Happiness flooded throughout Tir’s body, far more than she imagined. Three simple words, ‘I. Believe. You.’ it meant the world to her, and she gushed accordingly, “Thank you… thank you, by the stars of the damned… thank you…” She sobbed with happiness at the desperately fulfilled longing to be believed by ‘someone’.

“Go on, stand up, Lodira… or, no, you said your name is ‘Tir’ now.” Nua said and taking Tir’s hand, she helped the woman stand up, then sat on her desk with her arms crossed.

“What happened after I left, of all the news to get when I returned, well… let’s just say these things about you were not on the list of what I expected.” Nua said informally, and she felt Tir relax. Nua simply listened as Tir relayed everything, how she was slandered and demonized, how she was seen as a murderess, out to get a younger and more powerful husband. How her father hadn’t cared if she was guilty or not, the death of the steward, and finally… her sale, all the way up to her meeting with Priceless. She had to stop several times to cry, but when she was finally done, she was out of tears and mostly out of breath, and hung her weary head.

“...And that is everything, now… I belong to you, and… everybody thinks I’m dead. If you want to kill me to ensure your secret is safe, I know I can’t stop you. Maybe making myself known to you was just another stupid, impulsive decision atop many I’ve made over the years. But I had to take this chance. But I promise nobody knows, and I would never break that trust… not after what you did for Sobella. But still, if it has to be so, just please don’t make it hurt.” Tir finally finished and closed her eyes. She chewed on her lower lip and waited for a death blow.

Nua’s eyes were on her, she could feel the icy blue of a death worshipper, there was no question in Tir’s mind as to how quickly it could end. “I became her friend, too.”

Tir felt Nua’s hands take her own, “She loved you, she loved you very, very much, and talked about you a great deal.” Nua said in a quiet, mourning voice.

Tir could only nod, “Thank you for… looking after her… mistress.”

Nua nodded quickly, “Sobella was worth protecting, and it will forever be a regret that I couldn’t save her.”

“So… you’re not going to kill me to keep me quiet, are you, my lady?” Tir finally asked when the silence stretched.

Nua’s answer was quick. “Not if I don’t have to.” Nua went back to her seat and reclaimed it.

Tir sighed with relief, but did not raise her head, “Then… what will you do with me? I don’t think I’m your type…” She gave a weak and fragile smile to Nua. “I have no noble title, so I can’t be a useful marriage pawn, I have no money… Anton sold everything I had left. I’m disinherited, so I’ll never have anything to give you. Do you just put me back up for auction again and again until I sell?”

Nua pretended to think it over, and then asked, “If you want, I can set you free as a token of our shared friendship with Sobella, I could acquire a small cabin somewhere. I could even grant you a little sum of money, enough to live comfortably on for life if you lived sensibly.” Her right hand went out as if weighing the option.

“Or, I can keep you in my possession, and you can serve me in my estate. If you have no ‘special’ skills of the non-obscene variety, well, this is a large estate. You can stay in my service as a maid. I will even let you have a silver collar.” Nua raised her left hand at her side with her elbows on the desk, seeming to ‘weigh’ both options. “If there is something else you would like… you may ask.” Nua proposed, and waited.

“I can’t stay if you set me free?” Tir asked humbly.

“Absolutely not.” Nua replied grimly. “One thing I have learned in my time here, is that I shouldn’t trust anybody I don’t own. If you want to stay in my home, you give up on freedom. Unlike the rest of them though, if you change your mind, the first offer remains available to you.”

Tir shuddered, ‘She’s serious…’ It was an unpleasant understanding, but she went on, “May I… mistress, can I tell you my true desire?”

“You may.” Nua answered, lowering her hands and sitting back in her chair.

“I want… mistress I want revenge!” Tir hissed. “On Anton! On my brothers and sister! On Shog’nai! I hate them… I want to destroy them all… I will do anything for that chance. I don’t care what you do with me, what you order me to do for you, grant me that, and nothing else matters…” Her bright eyes narrowed, and Nua was intrigued.

‘Given what she told me, I’m not surprised.’ Nua considered, it was clearly very sincere. “Be careful about statements like that, slave.” Nua warned the former Contessa, “I know what it means to be willing to go to any lengths for a goal. And if you make that as an oath to my god, I will take it seriously. There are a great many people in my way, people you may have called friends, if I have to destroy them, you ‘will’ help me.”

“I don’t have any friends!” Tir all but shrieked, “Mistress…” The brief blazing in her eyes was gone and she hung her head again, “Everybody abandoned me, everybody. Men who happily slept with me when their wives were gone, said I was… no, it doesn’t matter. But nobody believed me at all… they’re not my friends! Prince Rasgen tried desperately to get ‘someone’ to take me, anyone… but I was thrown away… maybe he...” She wiped her nose angrily. “If you tell me to help you destroy them, then I will tell you every single thing you need to know. They betrayed me first. You tell me what to do to help you hurt whoever you want, mistress… and as long as everyone I named is on your list some day…?” Tir went to her knees and then lowered herself face to the floor with her arms cast forward.

Tir’s earnest voice carried on without hesitation or pause, “And I will remain a menial in your house for the rest of my life. Do anything with me. Just please mistress, let me see their faces when they’re all cast down like me, and let me laugh at them, so that they know it was my work that made it happen.”

Nua got up and approached the resolute former Contessa, “Swear it in the name of my god, but know that very bad misfortune befalls those who swear falsely.”

“I swear, in the name of your divine god of death, that I am your loyal servant for as long as I live, my loyalty is absolute, my limits do not exist. My life, my future is yours to dictate, in exchange for my revenge.” Tir vowed, and impulsively pressed her lips to the brown boot Nua wore.

“Then you can stay here… tell Priceless to take you to Freyjin, you’ll be put into a silver collar and given a maid uniform. You will serve in the background, and I will go to you when I need knowledge of anyone noteworthy in this city. No matter who they are, you will tell me everything you know about them.”

“As you command, mistress.” Tir slowly rose and backed away.

A moment later, Nua was alone again. “Sobella… wherever you are, if you can hear this… I’m sorry. But I will not abandon either my dreams or my duties, not even for you. I will try to protect your friends… but if they won’t quit this dangerous game… just like you, they will have the ends they’ve chosen…” The assassin let out a heavy, weary sigh, but had no tears to give, not for anyone.

Vargas entered the familiar practice area within the grand estate. It had become a kind of unwritten rule that only those of the first twenty-five could train there, and he hoped very much to find somebody present. ‘I really need to clear my head.’ He thought to himself as he set aside his standard equipment and took up the training gear instead.

He both simultaneously was, and was not disappointed. “Welcome back, Vargas, how did your visit with your wife go, and how’s your head?” Freyjin asked cheerfully as she tapped the wooden sword rhythmically on her shoulder.

‘Oh good, it's a friend.’ and, ‘An elf cunt.’ Both thoughts passed through his mind almost simultaneously.

He kept his lips tight shut as he pretended to spend another moment getting his gear adjusted, until it almost became awkward and he replied, “Fine, thank you. My wife is pregnant”

Freyjin didn’t see his eyes as he was focusing his attention on a strap, but she responded to his announcement, “That’s wonderful news!” She exclaimed and rushed over, dropping the wooden sword to the floor and taking his hand. “I’ll speak to Onimeus for you, or the mistress if necessary, and see if I can get you some more time away from here to spend with her!”

Vargas yanked his hands away, and for a moment she looked stunned, then he put on a fake smile and bent down to pick up her dropped weapon. He handed it to her and said, “Never drop your sword when approaching your opponent.”

Freyjin recovered and flushed briefly, “You’re right, sorry but we haven't started yet… it’s good to have you back, it hasn’t been long but… well, a lot has happened lately, some good, some… I still don’t know. Let’s just say I’m going to be so busy here that I’ll be envying you all on the march out there. You’ll get more sleep than I will, I promise you.” She gave a half laugh and put her back to him. He stared at her uncut ears and didn’t laugh with her.

“You’re very serious today for a man who got such big news ‘and’ got leave, listen, you don’t have to worry, Mistress Aiwenor has promised that any child born to a free woman will be considered free too, even if the father is one of her possessions.” Freyjin said, guessing at his concerns as they took position.

Freyjin took a position he knew very, very well. ‘The fighting style of the bastards who wiped us out!’

He took up a very different one, her own had the sword up and ready, pointed out, his own was low and back, and his body was almost at a crouch. “What’s that position?” Freyjin asked with a golden brow raised.

“Don’t worry about it,” Vargas answered, “just say you’re ready.”

“I’m ready.” Freyjin said, and to her shock, he was on her before she could properly move.

Vargas’s practice sword smashed into her thigh, when he brought it up from below, then he spun and brought it around, spinning to strike at her shoulder or her neck, she managed to bring her sword up in time, a sense of alarm on her face as she saw the fury on his own.

Far from blocking the blow, he instead landed a kick that sent her flying into the wall, which she hit ‘hard’ before landing with a loud thud.

‘Elf loving bitch, fucking elves fucking everything up, traitors to humanity for born whores and…’ He heard only his own thoughts, he saw only red, until a moment later when he realized… Freyjin wasn’t moving. He looked at her, bloody and broken mess that she was, and the bloody wooden sword in his hand, and dropped it on the floor. He fell to his knees and tugged her into his arms and lap, “Freyjin! Freyjin wake up!” He shouted as he shook her, “By the six… what have I done…?!”

He turned his head toward the open door of the practice hall and shouted, “I need a healer in here! Now!”

Nua retired early that night, barely paying any mind to anyone, the day’s events weighed on her mind, as did the ball that was to take place the following day. When Kaiji and Priceless went through the motions of undressing her, Nua was physically present, but mentally absent. Attempts to engage with her were met with silence or single word answers, and she finally fell back on her bed after saying simply, “Leave me.”

The worry on their soft and loving faces was not lost on Nua, but she was simply too worn out to feel any way about it, and if anything, it only made her more weary. ‘I’m responsible for them too…’ She crawled under her covers, they were of a rich dark blue, like the expensive covers over equally costly pillows that lay beneath her head.

She closed her eyes and just let herself sink into the mattress. She was so oblivious that she didn’t realize that her teacher was present until Solution had her pinned down at the wrists.

“You’re not paying attention, Nua, that’s a good way to die, I should punish you for that…” The monster winked down at her.

Nua simply stared up at her, “Teacher… do you trust me?”

Solution cocked her head at the uncommon question. “What?” She asked.

“Do you trust me? Like… to tell you the truth, but more than that. If you were weakened, or injured, or in danger, and had to rely on me, would you feel comfortable knowing I would do everything in my power to help you?” Nua asked without looking away from the beautiful blue pools that hovered over her.

“Yes, my student, I actually do.” Solution said with confidence, “Whatever your absurd faults, I trust that you would do just that. Why do you ask?”

“It doesn’t matter, Teacher. It was just nice to hear. Do you have any advice for tomorrow?” Nua deflected the question adroitly.

“Just don’t worry about it, your servants are doing their best to ensure your house shows well, while you’ve been cooped up most of the day, everyone ‘else’ has been busy with the main hall and the courtyard, the chefs have been working constantly to prepare everything they could possibly need. Tomorrow your rank will be celebrated, and then I’m sure the Prince will be interested in your answer to his question…” Solution chuckled as Nua rolled her eyes.

“I know, I know, I’m being absurd, but my mind is just not on that right now, Teacher.” Nua said, and closed her eyes, and Solution huffed and got off of her, laying down at her side.

Before long, they were both sound asleep.

Nua awoke bright and early, flung on her robe and reached for the rope that would ring the bell in the room shared by her purple tagged servants. ‘No.’ Nua thought the better of it. ‘I’ve been hard on them lately, let them sleep in a little, I haven’t forgotten how to wash myself.’ She managed a little self deprecating humor and made her way to the baths.

When she got there and passed through the door into the heated room, she reflexively allowed the robe to be drawn off of her body, and another to take her hand to lead her into the heated waters before she recognized she was being attended.

“You were waiting for me.” Nua said, in a small voice.

“Yes, of course.” Priceless said with a smile on her face that shone even through the steam and the dim lighting. “This is a large step forward for you, mistress Aiwenor. We wouldn’t dream of letting you go untended this morning.”

Nua felt the scrubber on her back as soon as she sat down on the bench beneath the water, while Priceless took up the Duchessa’s left arm and began to wash that. “Whose idea was it?” Nua asked dryly as she allowed them their work.

“I figured out your intent, my lady.” Kaiji answered, grunting a little with the effort at scrubbing the hardened back. “You have been pushing yourself very hard, you need rest sometimes, even you can’t go on forever. Let us help you, even in the small things… we are extensions of your desires.”

Nua cracked a smile in spite of herself. “This is going to be a very good day indeed.”